MacRumors

Canadian carrier Rogers this week announced that customers can receive six months of free access to Apple Music when signing up for select Infinite data plans, including its 20GB plan for $80 per month or 50GB plan for $125 per month.

The offer is available to new and existing Apple Music subscribers on iOS or Android, and can be redeemed through the MyRogers app. After the six-month free period, customers will have Apple Music's standard $9.99 per month cost charged directly on their Rogers bill. The offer is not applicable to family or student subscriptions.

Rogers is the only Canadian carrier to now offer Apple Music as a perk, following in the footsteps of Verizon in the United States.

South African carrier MTN has also rolled out a six-months-free Apple Music offer.

Apple today shared a humorous new privacy-focused iPhone ad in which people awkwardly overshare their personal information with strangers, such as their credit card number, login details, and web browsing history.

On a bus, for example, a man loudly proclaims that he has browsed eight websites for divorce attorneys that day. And during dinner at a restaurant, a woman tells the other two people at the table that she purchased prenatal vitamins and four pregnancy tests on March 15 at 9:16 a.m., which is clearly something that would be in her iPhone search history.

"Some things shouldn't be shared," says Apple. "That's why iPhone is designed to help give you control over your information and protect your privacy."

Apple has repeatedly said that it believes privacy is a "fundamental human right," and one of the company's "core values." At the CES electronics show in Las Vegas last year, Apple promoted its commitment to privacy with a billboard near the convention center that read "what happens on your ‌iPhone‌, stays on your ‌iPhone‌."

Apple has a privacy page on its website with measures that it takes to protect users, such as end-to-end encryption of iMessages.

Apple has today announced that it will construct two of the world's largest onshore wind turbines near Esbjerg in Denmark, in an expansion of its investment in renewable energy.

Via a press release, Apple explained that the new 200-meter-tall turbines will produce 62 gigawatt hours of energy every year, enough to power almost 20,000 homes. The area will also function as a test site for more powerful offshore wind turbines that may be constructed in the future.

The power produced at Esbjerg will support the Apple data center in Viborg, with all surplus energy going to the Danish grid. The Viborg data center helps to power the App Store, Apple Music, iMessage, Siri, and other services in Europe. Apple has already constructed one of Scandinavia's largest solar arrays to power the data center.

"Combatting climate change demands urgent action and global partnership — and the Viborg data center is powerful proof that we can rise to this generational challenge," said Apple's vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, Lisa Jackson. "Investments in clean energy deliver breakthrough innovations that bring clean energy and good jobs to businesses and local communities. This is an area where we have to lead — for the sake of our planet and future generations."

Last month, Apple announced its intention to become completely carbon neutral by 2030. The new investment in onshore wind turbines is expected to help the company achieve its net-zero climate impact goal within the next decade, and will aid Apple's effort to transition all of its Europe-based suppliers to renewable power.

European Apple suppliers Henkel and tesa SE, DSM Engineering Materials, STMicroelectronics, and Solvay are reportedly working towards clean energy solutions for their Apple fulfillment. German Apple supplier Varta has this week committed to running all Apple production with 100 percent renewable energy.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Western Digital's G-Technology brand today announced the release of a new ArmorLock encrypted NVMe SSD, which is a 2TB SSD that uses G-Tech's newly introduced ArmorLock Security Platform. ArmorLock is a data encryption platform designed with finance, government, healthcare, media, IT, and legal professions in mind, offering greater security than is available with standard SSDs.

G-Technology's ArmorLock SSD relies on a smartphone or computer for locking and unlocking through the ArmorLock mobile and desktop apps. It remains locked until it is paired to an iPhone or a Mac and unlocked with the device's security mechanisms - Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode.

G-Technology suggests that this system is ideal for SSDs that need to be shipped between different physical locations as it provides protection until the SSD is in the hands of the right person. Because this higher security technology is meant for professionals, the SSD is more expensive than a standard SSD, priced at $599 for 2TB of storage.

The ArmorLock SSD offers read/write speeds of up to 1000MB/s through its 10GB/s USB port, combining high speeds with easy to use encryption. It is IP67 water and dust resistant and it can survive drops of up to three meters. At the current time, the ArmorLock SSD is limited to iOS and macOS devices.

When locked, the ArmorLock SSD offers 256-bit AES-XTS hardware encryption along with tools to securely erase and reformat when needed. The last known location of the SSD can be tracked on a map, and it supports firmware updates for adding new features.

The G-Technology ArmorLock encrypted NVMe SSD can be purchased from the Western Digital Store starting today. It is available in a 2TB capacity only and it is priced at $599.

Apple's iPhone cameras could in future adopt circuit boards based on liquid crystal polymer (LCP) in order to allow them to transmit high-resolution images at higher speeds, according to industry sources in Apple's supply chain (via DigiTimes).

The use of LCP-based flexible PCBs in camera lens modules has been linked to the introduction of high-speed 5G in Apple's smartphone lineup, as well as to the increasing prevalence of live-streamed video and augmented reality apps.

LCP PCBs may also be massively adopted in iPhone camera lens modules in the future to support high-speed image transmission, the sources said, reasoning that image data will be increasingly complicated in the 5G era and high-speed transmission will be needed to allow high-resolution images in live streaming and AR applications.

The tidbit appears in a report concerning the increased activity of Apple's supply chain partners to provide volume production of mmWave antenna boards for iPhones in 2021. mmWave, which also uses LCP-based PCBs, is the fastest 5G network technology that carriers are currently rolling out.

At least some ‌iPhone‌ 12 models this year are expected to support mmWave, but the report isn't clear on when Apple's iPhones are expected to include LCP-based camera module PCBs capable of faster image transmission.

Apple is expected to release high-end 6.7 and 6.1-inch iPhones with triple-lens cameras, while the new lower-end 5.4 and 6.1-inch iPhones are thought to feature dual-lens cameras.

The higher-end ‌iPhone‌ 12 models could feature an improved telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, improved from the current 2x optical zoom. The high-end 6.7-inch ‌iPhone‌ in 2020 is rumored to be getting sensor-shift image stabilization technology, which could potentially bring image stabilization to the ultra wide-angle lens on those devices.

Apple could also include new camera modes on the higher-end ‌iPhone‌ 12 models, allowing them to shoot 4K video at 120 and 240 frames per second. The new camera modes are reportedly referenced in iOS 14.

In addition, rumors suggest at least one of the new ‌iPhone‌ models coming in 2020 will feature a 3D camera, which sounds like the LiDAR Scanner feature that Apple added in the 2020 iPad Pro models. LiDAR is essentially able to map the surrounding environment at the photon level at nano-second speeds.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday said Apple must pay over 12,000 retail workers in California for the time spent waiting for compulsory bag searches at the end of their shifts (via Reuters).

A unanimous three-judge panel reversed a judge who had tossed the case and ordered him to enter summary judgment for the plaintiffs, after the California Supreme Court in response to certified questions in the case said in February that time spent undergoing security checks is compensable under state law.

The unanimous court decision, which dates back to a class action lawsuit filed against Apple in 2013, lines up with a previous California Supreme Court ruling that determined that staff time spent in security screenings was compensable.

Employees alleged that Apple subjected them to mandatory bag checks that were conducted off the clock, leaving them uncompensated for their time. At the trial level, Apple actually won the lawsuit when the court ruled that Apple employees chose to bring personal bags to work and dismissed the case, but the decision was appealed and brought to a higher court.

The Ninth Circuit panel said on Wednesday that the U.S. District Court that handled the original lawsuit had mistaken in its judgement when it sided with Apple over the case.

Apple requires all personal packages, bags, and Apple devices that belong to retail employees to be checked by a manager or security before an employee is allowed to leave the store for any reason, including breaks, lunch, and the end of shifts.

Employees are also required to clock out before submitting to an exit search, and have estimated that the time spent waiting and undergoing searches ranges from five to 20 minutes. On busy days, some employees have waited for up to 45 minutes waiting for a bag check.

Prior evaluation of the case, which reached class action lawsuit status in 2015, suggested that Apple could have to pay as much as $60 million should it be required to offer employees back compensation for the time spent undergoing bag checks.

LG has "no plans" to update its pre-2019 TVs with AirPlay 2 or HomeKit support, despite previously giving customers assurances that they would do so this year.

In April, LG indicated in a support document that it planned to add ‌AirPlay‌ 2 and ‌HomeKit‌ support to some of its 2018 smart TVs by October 2020, including LCD models with "SK" or "UK" in the name and OLED models with "B8" through "Z8" in the name.

Shortly after the news broke, however, all mention of LG's plan for the 2018 TVs was mysteriously removed from the support page, and LG remained silent on the matter for months thereafter.

It wasn't until a little over a week ago when a customer asked LG's official UK Twitter account for an update on when the support would arrive that LG finally admitted it has no intention of fulfilling its promise.

The development is likely to cause consternation and anger among LG customers, especially anyone who bought a 2018 TV based on LG's update plan, not to mention the almost 22,000 LG TV owners who believed their petition calling for the company to bring the support had resulted in success.

‌AirPlay‌ 2 support would have enabled users of the above TV models to stream videos, music, podcasts, and more directly from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac to their LG smart TV, with no Apple TV necessary. With ‌HomeKit‌ support, they would have easily been able to control their TV's power, volume, source, and more using Siri or the Home app on ‌iPhone‌, ‌iPad‌, and Mac.

Sadly, neither looks like it will now be happening.

Signify today announced a series of new products that are coming to the HomeKit-compatible Philips Hue line of lights, including a new lightstrip, an updated version of the Hue Iris, new low-cost white bulbs, and more, as outlined below.

The Philips Hue Play Gradient Lightstrip is designed to integrate with the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box that connects Hue lights to TVs, consoles, and other devices to match lighting to the content being displayed on the TV set. The Gradient Lightstrip is designed specifically with television sets in mind and it comes in three lengths to accommodate common TV sizes: 55 inch, 65 inch, and 75 inch.

It sticks on the back of a TV set and is able to display color gradients, a first for a Philips Hue product. Prior lightstrips were always limited to a single color and did not support multi-color usage, but the LEDs in the Gradient Lightstrip are individually addressable.

For use with media, the Gradient Lightstrip needs either the Hue Play HDMI sync box or the Hue Sync PC or Mac app, which allow it to match the colors on the TV set for an immersive home theater experience. It features a 45 degree light projection and Signify says the light gradient is "perfectly blended." The Gradient Lightstrip can also work as an ambient lighting option without being synced to a TV through one of the above mentioned options, but it's not the primary function.

The Philips Hue Play Gradient Lightstrip will be available starting on October 16, 2020, but it can be pre-ordered today from the Hue website. The 55-inch version is priced at $199, the 65-inch version is priced at $219, and the 75-inch version is priced at $240.

In addition to the new Gradient Lightstrip, there's a newly revamped Hue Iris that's coming soon. Priced at $99.99, the Hue Iris is a table lamp that offers richer colors, lower dimming, and increased brightness compared to the prior version of the Iris.

The Iris offers up to 570 lumens of brightness when it is used as a white light lamp, and it has a fabric wrapped cord. It comes in limited edition colors that include gold, rose, copper, and silver. It can be paired with a Hue Bridge or used over Bluetooth, and it will be available for purchase on October 19, 2020.

Alongside these two major product releases, Signify is updating the Philips Hue E12 Candelabra bulbs with Bluetooth, and introducing the Globe and Edison Filament bulbs in new larger form factors. The Hue Ensis pendant light is being released in a new black finish, and there's a new small form factor E14 Lustre bulb ideal for smaller lamps.

Signify in the future plans to bring the new gradient lighting technology to additional products in the Philips Hue line, and there's also an upcoming integration with August and Yale smart locks for doing things like turning on the lights right when the lock is activated.

For more information on today's announcements, make sure to check out the Philips Hue website.

LG offers 4K and 5K UltraFine monitors designed in partnership with Apple, which can be purchased through the Apple Store as an alternative to Apple's own super expensive Pro Display XDR, but those haven't been refreshed since 2019 and the 4K model is sold out from Apple's site.

LG also makes other UltraFine monitors not promoted by Apple, including the new LG UltraFine Ergo, which we thought we'd check out in our latest YouTube video for those looking for newer LG technology.

LG's new UltraFine 4K Ergo monitor comes in at 32 inches, which is larger than both the 27-inch 5K UltraFine and the 23.7-inch 4K UltraFine displays that Apple offers in its online store. It's also affordable, priced at just $699, which is the same price as the currently unavailable 4K UltraFine sold by Apple.

LG's Ergo display earns its name because of its flexibility. It can be swiveled, pivoted, tilted and adjusted to match any desk setup and usage scenario, and it's simple to set up thanks to the C-clamp that attaches it to a desk.

Height is adjustable from 0 to 130mm, and just as an example, it can be swiveled up to 280 degrees, it pivots up to 90 degrees (and can be used vertically) and it offers 25 degrees of tilt in both directions. It can also be extended or retracted 0 to 180mm. Make sure to watch our video up above to see its versatility in action.

The clamp design includes an off-center monitor arm, which leaves space below the monitor for desk items, and it has a modern design that fits well with most decor.

There's a USB-C port with power delivery up to 60W, two HDMI ports, two USB-A ports, a DisplayPort, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. That 60W power delivery is ideal for the 13-inch MacBook Pro or 13-inch MacBook Air, and while it can charge the 15 or 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ models, it might not be able to keep up with peak usage. In that situation, you might need to use the dedicated charging cable and power adapter that come with the Mac.

As for display quality, we found it to be decent in our testing. It's not the quality that you would get from something like an iMac because it doesn't have the same high pixel density, but it is comparable to other monitors at its price point.

Color accuracy was good, and it offers 350 nits of brightness and a 1000:1 contrast ratio. It's a 60Hz display with a 5ms response time, so it's not ideal for gaming.

Though this is a rather large monitor at 32 inches, it's still ideal for most desk sizes because of its versatility and ability to be positioned in multiple ways. Higher display sizes are useful for multitasking with multiple windows, and we found it to fit three large windows comfortably.

All in all, minus the lower pixel density, this is a solid monitor at its price point and is worth checking out for those who are in the market for a new display.

Apple today informed developers about an upcoming Subscription Code feature that's designed to allow developers to offer up discounted or free auto-renewable subscriptions to lure customers.

Later this year, you'll be able to acquire, retain, and win back subscribers with subscription offer codes: unique, alphanumeric codes that provide free or discounted prices for auto-renewable subscriptions. Provide your one-time use codes digitally or offline at physical events, alongside products, and more. Customers on iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 and later can redeem offer codes on the App Store, through a one-time code redemption URL, or within your app if you've implemented the presentCodeRedemptionSheet API.

Apple says that developers can give customers unique, alphanumeric codes that are one time use, provided at digital or physical events, alongside products, and more. Subscription codes are an iOS and iPadOS 14 feature and are coming later this year.

More information about Subscription Codes can be found on Apple's developer website.

Intel today announced the launch of its new 11th-generation Tiger Lake chips that are designed for use in laptops. The new chips included integrated Xe graphics, Thunderbolt 4, USB 4, PCIe Gen 4, and WiFi 6 support.

Intel is calling the Tiger Lake chips, which are built on a 10-nanometer "SuperFin" process, the world's best processor for thin and light laptops. Tiger Lake chips offer significant performance and efficiency gains over the prior-generation Ice Lake chips.

The new chips offer 20 percent better CPU performance than Ice Lake chips, according to Intel. The integrated Iris Xe graphics are better than 90 percent of all discrete notebook GPUs sold last year and offer up to twice the graphics performance along with 5x better artificial intelligence performance.

There are nine new SKUs across Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 with clock speeds up to 4.8GHz.

Intel says that the new Tiger Lake CPUs will be in more than 50 laptops coming this fall and named a number of partners such as Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung, but Apple was not among them. Since the Tiger Lake chips are for lower power laptops and max out at 28W, it is unlikely Apple will ever use them.

Apple is transitioning to Arm-based Apple Silicon chips beginning this year, and rumors have indicated that the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air will be some of the first machines to get Apple Silicon chips.

If the next-generation ‌MacBook Air‌ adopts ‌Apple Silicon‌, there will be no need for Apple to adopt Tiger Lake chips.

While new iPhone and Apple Watch models are typically unveiled on stage at a September event, 2020 has been anything but an ordinary year, so there is a good chance that Apple's fall product announcements will deviate from the norm at least slightly.

At the very least, it is unlikely that Apple will hold an in-person iPhone event this year, unless it were limited to a small group of journalists. Similar to its WWDC keynote in June, Apple may be forced to introduce new products with an online presentation, possibly along with press releases shared on the Apple Newsroom.

Last month, leaker Jon Prosser claimed that new Apple Watch and iPad models would be announced via press release during the second week of September, followed by a presumably-virtual iPhone event in October. However, another proven leaker who uses the alias L0vetodream has since claimed there will be "no Watch this month."

The same Twitter account has revealed several accurate details about upcoming Apple hardware and software, including the launch timing of new iPhone SE and iPad Pro models earlier this year, the marketing name macOS Big Sur, the hand washing feature in watchOS 7, the handwriting-to-text feature Scribble in iPadOS 14, and much more.

If accurate, this tweet lends credence to Japanese blog Mac Otakara's claim that Apple plans to unveil both iPhone 12 and Apple Watch Series 6 models during an event in the second half of October. Prosser himself said that there will be an iPhone event in October, so it is possible that he was simply inaccurate about the Apple Watch timing.

September would certainly feel unusually empty without any product announcements, however, so perhaps Apple will fill this gap with some other products via press release. Potential candidates include a redesigned iPad Air with an edge-to-edge display, a smaller HomePod, Apple-branded over-ear headphones, AirTags, and a new Apple TV.

India has today banned 118 apps, including the popular game PUBG Mobile, according to Medianama. The apps were accused of being engaged in activities "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state and public order" by the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Thus far, the Indian government has banned 224 apps this year, mainly due to implied security concerns with regards to Chinese ownership. In June, India banned 59 apps including TikTok and WeChat, and banned another 47 in July.

"The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users' data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India. The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defense of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures," the Ministry said in a statement.

The Ministry explained that bipartisan concerns were flagged up about the large number of apps, "by various public representatives, both outside and inside the Parliament of India. There has been a strong chorus in the public space to take strict action against Apps that harm India's sovereignty as well as the privacy of our citizens." On the basis of "credible" information, evidencing the functionality embedded in apps that allowed for "data harvesting practices," the apps were deemed by the Ministry to be "a severe threat to security of the State."

Concerns about rogue data harvesting practices on iOS are regarded as being of the same severity as on Android. Apple and Google will now be forced to remove the apps from their respective app stores, effective immediately.

A Parliamentary Standing Committee specifically discussed the need for a ban on PUBG Mobile in July. PUBG Mobile is owned by Chinese tech company Tencent, which was likely the reason for its inclusion in the ban. PUBG was said to be among the most popular games in India prior to today's ban. The country was also one of the largest markets for TikTok, prior to its ban in June. The extended app ban list also includes two apps that claimed to offer access to TikTok via a VPN.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

UK carrier EE has launched a new package called the "Full Works" plan for iPhone, which includes subscriptions to Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple Arcade. It is the first carrier plan to bundle multiple Apple subscription services.

As a result of a new collaboration with Apple, the plan includes subscriptions to Apple services such as ‌Apple Music‌, ‌Apple TV‌+, and ‌Apple Arcade‌, as well as unlimited calls, texts, and data, and an upgrade when new ‌iPhone‌ models are released. Apple News+ and iCloud storage are not included, and the ‌Apple Music‌ family plan is unavailable. The plan includes alternate "smart" benefits such as "BT Sport Ultimate" app access or a "Roam Further" pass instead of Apple subscriptions.

EE is the UK's largest carrier and a leading 5G provider. While the telecoms firm usually charges a premium compared to other networks, the plan offers overall savings on the subscription services. The Full Works package offers the ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro with unlimited calls, texts, and data, and ‌Apple Music‌, ‌Apple TV‌+, and ‌Apple Arcade‌ for £77 per month. Without the Apple subscription services, the same plan costs £68, resulting in the services bundle effectively costing £9. The same services accumulatively cost £19.97 directly from Apple.

The plan is available with multiple ‌iPhone‌ models, and will presumably be available with the upcoming ‌iPhone‌ 12 as the plan is 5G-ready. The plan will also become available for businesses from the end of September.

Apple has been rumored to be launching a new series of bundled subscription services this fall, called "Apple One." The series of bundles would allow customers to subscribe to several Apple digital services together. This is expected to result in a lower monthly price than when the services are subscribed to individually. It is likely that ‌Apple One‌ will also be paired with carrier plans when released, and the partnership with EE indicates Apple's increasing interest in bundling its services.